Raw materials
European Innovation Partnership (EIP) - Targets
Innovation can help increase the supply of raw materials in a number of ways – from new mining methods, through improved product design for recycling to ways in which raw materials can be retrieved from waste. Substitution of materials, as well as finding new ways to make better use of what we already have, also plays an important role.
This EIP will contribute to the mid- and long-term security of a sustainable supply of the raw materials that are required to meet the fundamental needs of a modern resource efficient society by creating synergies between different policy instruments, reinforcing co-ordination with EU Member States and ensuring the development of integrated value chains.
It is an essential contribution to the competitiveness of European industries, and will make Europe the world leader in the capabilities related to exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution by 2020.
The EIP has an overall target of reducing Europe's import dependency on the raw materials that are critical to Europe's industries. The Commission has also proposed a number of concrete targets to be achieved by 2020:
- up to 10 innovative pilot actions (e.g. demonstration plants) for exploration, extraction and processing, collection and recycling;
- substitutes for at least three key applications of critical and scarce raw materials;
- enhanced efficiency in material use and in prevention, re-use and recycling of valuable raw materials from waste streams, with a specific focus on materials having a potentially negative impact on the environment;
- a Network of Research, Education and Training Centres on Sustainable Mining and Materials Management (M³);
- European standardised statistical instruments for the survey of resources and reserves and a 3-D geological map;
- a dynamic modelling system linking trends in supply and demand with economically exploitable reserves and a full lifecycle analysis;
- a pro-active strategy of the EU in multi-lateral organisations and in bilateral relations, such as the US, Japan, Australia in the different areas covered by the Partnership.
